Getting that winning mojo back on the Bay of Palma

Among those who, after an altogether underwhelming home waters Olympics, have rediscovered their mojo again on the sun-drenched, breezy Bay of Palma, are the normally cheery French duo Erwan Fischer and Clement Péquin. The duo came here last year with high hopes having just been crowned 49er World Champions, but a substandard Sofía was followed by a 12^th in the fickle winds of Marseille at the Olympics.

But after just the kind of breezy, shifty day on the water that they like Fischer and Péquin stand 24 points clear ahead at the top of the 49er standings.

It is already a good start to the season for the duo who spent their winter training not on Lanzarote or off Vilamoura but with their extensive young 49er squad on Brittany’s beautiful but decidedly chilly Bay of Quiberon.

And as a reminder of what life away from sailing may hold if the Olympic medals don’t come, crew Péquin spent time not practicing start line timing, but scheduling train departures and arrivals at his local station in La Rochelle as he fulfilled a commitment to a sponsor.

“We sailed really well today. We tried to keep sailing on the good shift and in the good pressure as well. If you just sailed the shift it was not enough to pass boats. It was very tricky today. But overall I think we are sailing well, we are sailing fast and working well together on the boat, it is nice to sail like this. I think we are in a good position now.” Péquin explains,

“We have a big group and that means we improved a lot, doing a lot, a lot of laps, many many starts and we all improve together. It was very, very cold in Brittany in the winter but the youth squad are doing so well and profiting.”

“We took five months off away from the 49er. We sailed the ETF multihull with Tim Mourniac and did some other sponsor sailing on Grand Surprises out of La Rochelle. It was all fun.” He adds, “I started working as it is hard to live off just Olympic sailing and so I was working in the train station in La Rochelle, I have a contract with them, they help me a lot in our project and so I have to do 50 days a year with them. I am the manager of the guys who are doing the departures and arrivals of the trains, a world I knew nothing about!”

The French duo seem to have their programme back on the rails, on track here to win the class as they did in 2022, but are being pursued hard by the new German partnership 19 year old Richard Schultheis and Fabien Rieger in second. In the 49er FX the GBR duo Freya Black and Saskia Tidey still lead after a 6,7,3,9 today.

In the ILCA 7 class Brit Micky Beckett had his leading margin trimmed by his compatriot Elliot Hanson who was a little better in the 15-18kts NE’ly offshore wind. Beckett is on course for his fourth Palma win in a row, standing 11 points clear of Hanson. Top scorer in the ILCA 7 today was the Netherlands Duo Bos who won Race 7 whilst Cyprus double silver medallist Pavlos Kontides won the second race.

“It was windy and offshore. The gap has narrowed a bit to Elliot but I am really enjoying it, though my legs are tired. I like the sailing here, it always, always demands an ability to sail well in all conditions from the windy stuff to the light, erratic stuff and that suits me. I am good at everything rather than outstanding in one area.”  Was Beckett’s evaluation today.

Like Beckett, Hungary’s 2023 ILCA 6 World Champion Maria Erdi is at home on the Bay of Palma having also won the ILCA 6 class last year. She took the class lead today after winning the first race. So too Max Maeder, Singapore’s Olympic bronze medallist, the defending Sofía champion in the Men’s Formula Kite returned to the top of the rankings, counting three first places and a second to leave Austria’s gold medallist Valentin Bontus in the shade, 19 points behind.

“I have been practicing my starts over the winter and that is helping, I look ahead at the course and try and judge where the wind is coming. I am no expert sailor at all so the good starts I have been practicing is helping, and good speed is helpful. I have been doing a lot of work on my technical set up and speed, and this is the time you put in in the gym, you have the gym work the equipment tuning the better starts, all these things are working right now.” Said Maeder today.

In the Women’s Formula Kite China’s athletes remain very impressive in the breeze, holding all three top positions, Wan Li leading.

German 470 Olympians Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort are another duo who are bouncing back hard after a sub par Marseille performance. They pipped GBR’s series leaders Martin Wrigley and Bettina Harris at the finish line to win the first breezy race today, sixth in the second race the Germans are pressing nine points behind the Brits with one more day of fleet racing to go.

“Conditions were great, Palma Bay, sunshine, 16kts, great for full ripping in the 470, it was a bit tricky, big shifts and gusts. We have a short season now with the worlds in June, we only got back in the boat in February and so just got the system running again, we did some manoeuvres, some straight lines and here we are.” Diesch said.

Italy’s Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei have a five points margin at the head of the Nacra 17 fleet.